It’s kind of a tradition when learning a new programing language to write a “Hello World” application. The sole purpose of the application is to write the words “Hello World” to an interface which is seen by the programmer. It’s not particularly useful, but it does serve a certain purpose. It allows the programmer to get familiar with some of the tools necessary to compose and compile an application without overwhelming him. It’s simple, it’s to the point, and the programmer has a certain sense of accomplishment. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but consider this the “Hello World” of a blog post. I’m not sure what I am going to accomplish with this blog, but I plan to discuss my journey in Australia, reflect on my time in Seattle, business, economics, and there will be plenty of time for random rants about things that probably only irritate me.
Once upon a time, there was no You Tube, iTunes, video rentals, or even DVDs. Home entertainment consisted of books and cassette tapes of music. As a kid, growing up in the 80’s, and with limited funds; I did what most kids did. I joined the Columbia Music House program. Future generations are going to find this absolutely bizarre, but it worked like this: you taped a penny to a postcard along with a selection of twelve cassettes, you waited forever, and then cassettes magically appeared in the mail the day you forgot about them. Every month, you were required to fill out a postcard saying that you didn’t want the “selection of the month” and if you didn’t, it would be mailed to you and you would be charged for it.
The first couple of selections were always pretty easy. You picked some Van Halen or whatever music you were listening to at the time. However, by the tenth pick, everyone I knew was running out of steam and picking randomly. I wound up picking an Eddie Murphy comedy album to round out my selection. I can’t remember if it was “Delirious” or “Raw”, but I do know that I listened to it over a hundred times, because there was nothing else to do.
Eddie Murphy does a bit about the Amytiville Horror movies. In the bit, he discusses the difference between a black family moving into the haunted house versus a white family. The black family moves in and Eddie mimics them discussing how much they love the house, “Isn’t this great, this house is fantastic!”
Then he makes an ominous voice that says, “GET OUT!”
Eddie switches back to the black family, “OK, we’re gone.”
Done. The black family has the common sense to leave when they realize the house is haunted. In contrast, he discusses the hypothetical white family in the same situation. The house says, “GET OUT!” and the white family retorts, “Fuck that, we’re not going.”
For too long, I have been acting like the white family in the above scenario with Seattle. Common sense has finally kicked in and it is time to go. The story of Seattle has really been a tale of two decades. Unfortunately, I decided to show up in the wrong decade.
Seattle in the nineties was exploding. Bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden were formed and discovered here. In pop culture, “Frasier” and the movie “Singles” were based in Seattle. The Mariners had Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, and Randy Johnson. The Sonics were a force to be reckoned with the combination of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. The term “Microsoft Millionaire” meant something. At one point, the most valuable company in the world (by market cap) was located right here in Redmond, Washington.
Y2K came and went and there were no disasters, but something was different. Grunge was long gone and almost forgotten. ARod left for $250 million. Shawn Kemp got more interested in cocaine than basketball. Then the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City (of all places). Boeing up and left. And the Microsoft Millionaires? Microsoft stock has not appreciated since 1998.
It’s not like Seattle is Detroit. It’s not. It’s simply not like it was in the nineties. I arrived here in 2001 and didn’t listen to the voice telling me to GET OUT. The winters have been far more brutal than I ever could have imagined. I would like to say that it’s because they were cold, but they weren’t. Chicago is much colder and I never seemed to mind the winter there. No, it’s the complete and utter lack of light that has made me want to hibernate every year for months on end. The sky is a constant state of grey with a cloud cover so thick that I honestly would not be able to locate the sun in the sky. It’s completely blocked by the constant grey mass of clouds.
Considering I spend the bulk of my life indoors in front of a computer screen, this lack of light should not affect me. It does. Not seeing a blue sky and the sun makes my brain feel like it can’t wake up. I’ve considered snorting lines of Via to help me wake up but haven’t quite resorted to it (yet). Instead, I’ve consumed quantities of caffeine that would disqualify me from international sports just to be able to keep moving and get to work.
A decade ago, I wrote all of the interfaces, conversions, and enhancements for a manufacturing company to transition off their legacy system to SAP. There was no Plan B. The go-live happened in October of 1999 and I was responsible for EVERY piece of the data moving over. It was challenging, daunting, and I spent many long hours ensuring it happened. I haven’t had a challenge professionally since and that’s sad.
Professionally, a big part of the problem has been working at Microsoft in one way or another for the last decade. The company is in a serious decline and in denial at the same time. I plan to post many of my observations in greater detail at some point in the near future. Let’s just say that the only thing I will miss is the free Diet Mountain Dew that is stored in the kitchens on campus.
It hasn’t been all bad. We had our kids here and I will always cherish that. We bought homes here. I learned how to fix things and enjoy manual labor as we remodelled our home (not that I would ever do that again). But it’s definitely time to move on.
I am looking forward to less brutal winters and greater professional challenges. I am excited to meet new people and travel. Once I have a little separation, I plan on writing a bit more about my experiences at Microsoft. Most importantly, I am now listening to spooky, ominous voices that tell me to do things.
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